The Yorkshire Post says: No longer alone – the best of PMQs as Theresa May backs loneliness campaign

The late MP Jo Cox's sister Lim Leadbeater is flanked by MPs Seema Kennedy (left) and Rachel Reeves (right) as the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness launched its manifesto last Friday in Batley. The issue was raised at Prime Minister's Questions.

THERE was very little Christmas cheer at Prime Minister’s Questions – Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn traded statistics on the NHS rather than coming up with practical and pragmatic solutions – while Speaker John Bercow was at his pompous worst.

Yet the best was saved for next to last when Leeds MP Rachel Reeves highlighted the findings of the landmark report produced last week by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness – and the need for a national strategy that tackles social isolation. The lonely are, thankfully, not alone any more.

The fact that this issue was raised at PMQs speaks volumes about the progress that has been made in recent years. And the fact that Mrs May is committed to doing more, while not discouraging the public service ethos that will, for example, see volunteers all over the country reaching out to the lonely over the festive period, was just as encouraging. This, rather than the insults, is what politics and PMQs should be about. More please in 2018.